Aquapod is a floating, sustainable fish farm

Marine biologists at Kampachi Farms (formerly Ocean Farm Technologies)
have developed fish pens that can be kept in the sea to allow
fish to be farmed without being taken out of their natural
environment. The pens are currently being trialled in Hawaii in in
a research project called Velella.

The Aquapod is essentially a cage in which farmers can put their
fish and then leave it adrift in the sea. One small Aquapod (6.7
metres in diameter) has been tethered to a manned sailing vessel in
the deep ocean near the Big Island of Hawaii. It is
drifting off the west coast of the Big Island from three to more
than 150 miles offshore in waters that are up to 3,600 metres deep.
The vessel's engines are used occasionally but only to correct the
course of the floating fish farm -- so it minimises the amount of
diesel that is used.

Neil Anthony Sims, fisheries biologist and co-founder of
Kampachi Farms explains: "The oceans are in trouble. For years now
we've been treating them like a strip-mining site. We've been
scouring them and scraping them for the seafood that we crave. And
we can't squeeze any more blood out of that stone."

He adds: "The project explores the potential of raising healthy
fish in their natural environment with virtually no environmental
impact on the underlying seafloor, surrounding water quality, or
wild fish outside the Aquapod."

The pods get stocked with 2,000 or so hatchery-reared kampachi
fingerlings (baby fish to you and me), which are fed a sustainable
diet. The cage is made out of a brass mesh that eliminates
biofouling -- when algae and barnacles attach themselves to
submerged objects. This minimises both drag and the need for
cleaning the cages. Marine biologists on board Machias, a 65-foot schooner acting
as the tender vessel, monitor the fish, maintaining data logs and
transmitting GPS data to land-based research headquarters.

The aim is to move beyond this research project and into
providing a sustainable alternative to fish farming. The pods
can made to be up to 28 metres in diameter and are made out of a
series of individual triangle net panels which can be replaced
separately.

Check out a video explaining the project below. Take note of the
mixing bowl and pipe which pushes the fish into the Aquapod (at
around 4:50).